The Glamorous Life Of Auditions - Day 9

Print job audition yesterday and like most people, I have no idea what all that entails but I got a good sense into this other life! For actors, these jobs of just taking pictures can mean extra money in our pockets while waiting for the next audition/job and who can be mad at that? What is maddening is the time frame of say 12p - 7p with no time slot, just show up whenever....CATTLE CALLS...urgh! Arrived only to see all sorts of people and your number....#114 and you hear them just call #75 as you're done with your sign in sheet. It is here I just want to walk away but I've already used up gas to get here, put on make-up and clothes and got up early to prep the day, so here I am and here I shall be.

These jobs aren't bad however and usually a couple of hundred bucks for a few hours of your time (at the very least usually) can pay some of the much needed bills but most commercial print auditions will take up 30 mins - an hour if not more of your time. So if you can wait it out, it does pay but boy is it another level of patience.  Bring games, chat and be prepared to hang out!

More happier to leave this mad house of the print world held today at the Space Station, I would've preferred my acting auditions to this and then maybe crash this type of work. Which brings me to the next point...crash commercial print auditions! If you're sitting around for something else and you see a mass load of different peeps hangin' about, go over, sign in while waiting. Most of these print jobs require no prep except for the clothes you may have on, so if at an audition and you're in casual wear, bring a dress shirt with you just in case. Money wise, these are so well worth it...time wise for the audition is another story but hey, if you've got no where to be for a minute....

Thank goodness I hit up my new favorite thrift store in the valley and on Wednesdays they have pretty much 50% off of everything in the store!!!! I was asked if I had any pencil skirts for an upcoming shoot and since I didn't, I figured I may help wardrobe out in case I could find some on the cheap and have it in my wardrobe as well since business attire is a necessity at auditions. 2 black pencil skirts (one with a slit in front and back, one without,) another black fitted, with pleats all around - 1 of the skirts is Jones of New York and the other Ann Taylor, all of them looking practically new, a white skirt - FOR ME dammit, because I can never go shopping just for the task at hand, a pair of business dress shoes and 4 books...yes one of them is a Star Wars book, a gift for the beast...and me since it's the story between Empire Strikes & Return, don't judge, it's not polite...for $27!!!! So either you can save, save, save and shop at the malls which can be easier or you can thrift store rummage and find everyday audition items to fit your budget so you can spend your cash on other items in this business where you usually can't get a deal...the choice is yours...HA, see what I did!!!!

Until next time....

The Glamorous Life of Auditions - Day 8

CALLBACK HEAVEN!!!! I love and appreciate callbacks...now. I didn't quite understand the dynamics of callbacks back when I started but now that I know what happens on the other side for you to have a callback, I've learned to celebrate them more and with that energy, get more! If you get a callback, enjoy and go at it the same way you went with it the first time. Don't change a thing, not your hair, your makeup, your clothes or your read, walk in looking as close to what you came in as because they liked you and now they're showing you that they really like you...also feed your body before putting all that pressure on yourself once again. It deserves all the nourishment it needs to give you what you want in the room -  you gotta give to get...

Same clothes on with discount flair! Marshalls, TJ Maxx and thrift stores are my go to places to create a wardrobe without the price. Picking up solid basics without the idea of trends will keep you in the game of clothes longer, so when you shop, ask yourself - "Can I wear this to an audition as well?" Double duty is what you're looking for in the long game of wardrobe in this business because it seems you have to have everything in order to portray the characters you go out to audition for. The things you can find at these places are amazeballs...stop spending all your money on clothes, hit up the clearance isle and thrifty stores...that's where you'll find me getting the good stuff!

Fun times at CAZT studios, I've been there so many times and I'm telling you guys, they get good projects so get on Casting Networks and start submitting for those roles. The cool thing about this place is that when you're auditioning here and if you happen to have the look of the casting in the next room, you can bet they will ask you to get in their room as well...or you can just ask too! Crash when you can, trust me, if you're respectful, the least they'll do is take your picture so have an extra one on you! You're there, so the worse you'll get is no...and you're already at no, so ask away!!!

Having fun is the name of the game, if you're having fun keep at it and don't you ever stop or let anyone take your hope or love of your art away. I got discouraged years ago because life does that and I had no one to tell me how close I was, that it had nothing to do with me and I walked away. Funny how the art brings you back if you're suppose to be here so don't step in the way of your work because you don't book, if you're out auditioning, if the same peeps are calling you back, if you're getting callbacks, if you have the room in tears, if you got the director doing the shoulder bounce after you read...YOU CELEBRATE - that's a booking and you're oh, so close! Hang in...don't you dare let someone else take what's yours!

It's not work...it's play time! Lucky us, we gets to play....

The Glamorous Life of Auditions - Day 7

These are the days it hurts so good. Getting that audition for a meaty, meat role and you know every actress is chomping at the bit so I go in with my guns a blazing for this one. I submitted myself for this role guys because it sounded well written and different for me, something new for my reel and challenging for my art. Sci-Fi Dramatic Thriller with a female lead...yes, please. Now I get this audition & sides just before the Easter weekend with family but I know how important it is to be prepared, so I make a copy and memorize a page while traveling there and the other page traveling back with a day to make sure I get it ingrained in my brain without overkill. No need to stress, just do yo best! Also, I decided to look at my audition ticket again, a day before the audition and noticed they sent a treatment and the script - what a pleasant surprise. I've learned to check my audition info just for that reason, more information which helps me be a better actress in the room. Go get 'em!!!

Can't stress how important it is to keep up with notifications of your work to the rest of the world. If you don't keep pushing your news out there, who will? You are your own publicist until the day comes when you can hire one. So until that day, toot your horn...as loud as you possibly can. Do it respectfully, do it diligently, just do it consistently but you gotta do it!

Also remember to dress the part, I want to look fabulous at every audition but sometimes that's not the character. Sometimes it's all out makeup, then it's just base & eyes no brows, little blush and then it's just base,mascara, little blush because you want them to get the idea of you having no makeup without looking crazy on the audition...you can look crazy on set after you book the job! So unless it states no makeup, I've been told it's best to come in as close to the character you see fit but don't ruin your audition because you decide to look fabulous for a girl at wits end who just lost everything. Be mindful of your clothes, hair and makeup, have them believing you are the person they are looking for by making their job easy when they see you. Lots of work, yes but it's the details...every little detail in which I'm learning!

Oh and celebrate...NEVER FORGET TO CELEBRATE!

The Glamorous Life of Auditions - Day 6

 So today was a "traditional" audition in which my agent, Yuliya got for me yesterday. One line (co-star) on a popular show as a ND Doctor.

If you're like me, you're like huh? ND? Then there's the O.R. stated...WHAT?!?! Yep -
INT. Hospital - O.R. - Night, Doctors prep for Surgery. ND looks down at their patient and delivers the line: "Okay, ?????, we're just about to start--" As the anesthesiologist puts a mask over the patient's face... As an actor/actress we will never know everything about everything and that's okay because there is Google. Don't wait to get into the room, sometimes the office doesn't have the time to answer questions you can look up and at least if you have one, it'll be legit not just a question to talk. Trust me, we all know what that looks like. So ND is a Naturalistic Doctor that works with MDs for the most part and O.R. is Operating Room, now although I could figure some of it out, it's best to just cross check to see if your instincts lined up. I take my pink scrub top just in case but dress in regular clothes because I noticed it stated that the Doctors prep for surgery, it didn't say anything about the ND and thought I'd make the decision once I was in the office. Only one actress in the 7 I saw wore a lab/dr's coat so I opted out since it's a drama show. Give yourself the option, better to have than to think you should've had it but don't. My car looks like a closet at times, but that's just part of the process! Also, since they had sides, I decided just to double check and make sure my sides matched, it's saved my bootay so many times, especially with revisions happening on shows - always check if they have them. So I went in and I could tell they were in super work mode, glad I looked those things up and we went right in to the line. Got redirects from the head CD because although they liked my warmth, they wanted a bit more professionalism for the character choice. Gave it and exited- short, sweet and so much fun!

Do your homework because someone else is...like me! Now, gotta celebrate with the jamba juice promo for today of greens & fruits small smoothie for $2.99, I can do that at that price, small victories! Slurp on...

The Glamorous Life of Auditions - Day 5

Had to repost this picture because I had a callback today and after my celebration lunch with carrot cuppy cake at Doomie's Vegan/Vegetarian I found out I had booked another show in which I went in once for with no call back! YIPEE! The contract doesn't allow me to state any info about the show as of yet, so until they do, I can only tell ya, I'm on a show as character ????! Super excited because the roles I've been able to audition for have been fun and of total quality, these New Media Rates deter some people but I say to get paid to do my art is happiness, plus the fact that my resume gets beefed up and I have more for my reel. Don't look past these gems guys, they'll help fatten your resume and reel while usually being shot well with fun content to explore.

Just before my audition however, I found out that this casting office still does generals...

Work out time to always make me feel I'm at my best - got to knock off another day on my ab calendar as well =)

After my callback audition, although I didn't feel I knocked it out of the park, I still was one of 2 people called back and I had as much fun as I could while racking my brain doing as much stuff as the director wanted...PLAY TIME!!! So after that, had to hit up Doomie's to treat myself with mac n' cheese, bread and cuppy cakes - life is real good ya'll, make sure you stop to enjoy!

EAT....IT.....UP...LIKE...A....BOSS!!! Celebrate in the car ride home...you deserve it however you want it!

Ready to celebrate tomorrow...because I just got another audition....let's do dis!!!!

The Glamorous Life of Auditions - Day 4

What an awesome, crazy week of auditions. I look forward to them no matter how I'm feeling because it's one more moment I get to do my art and for that, I remain thankful regardless of the outcome. Yes, it sucks not having money for gas, to buy stuff, to hangout etc. but when you are passionate about your work and wanting to really just be out there doing it, you make the sacrifice now so that you don't have to look back in 10 years or 20 and wonder what if...because you're doing it now and you're fighting now. So fight the good fight for as long as you can because life changes, things happen so make sure you're making the most of your happenings as they happen. Got a callback (wahoo) along with 2 wordy auditions for the morning. With a full day of getting ready, memorizing, rushing to the callback, then a job (thank goodness) and then back home to get the memorizing really down. It's not a day anyone thinks is the best but you've got to spend time on your auditions, even if you're memorizing fast, getting those creative juices flowing takes time, give yourself that time. You'll thank you after the audition happens!

Sometimes you're not feeling especially sexy and the role is basically a sexy woman - my knock off spanx, tummy tighter works every time. I work hard but you're gonna need help at times if you're a normal person who likes to eat no matter how much you work out! So get a pair for those emergencies, they save me every time...

Gotta go grey scale cause guess who doesn't have money for black ink??? And a very nice note from a casting director reminding all of us of how stressful their job is as well...perspective received!

Feedback after an audition always makes my day...I love taking risks but I never know if it was too much and truly appreciate it when I know what the reason I may not book the job might be and usually it is something totally out of your hands! Thankful to hear those because then I know I went in and did my art and that is all we can do...so keep doin' it!

Made my audition in Hollywood at 10a on time but of course, it's running a bit behind making me a bit later than what I thought to my 10:20 audition in Burbank but luckily I had already sent a message suggesting I may be behind. Both with redirects but I truly felt I nailed the last one. Feeling good -
real good regardless because I did the best I could do with the time given and I made some choices so we'll see...

Time to celebrate...with deliciousness and Zumba, gotta balance it all out with Zumba after. HA!

The Glamorous Life of Auditions - Day 3

Day before the audition, I had a taped reading of a film "Letters To America" with Freedom Bridgewater on a hush, hush script - do those whenever you can. It's good practice just to be up on your feet and you can see others work as well as feel out your own sense of timing and characterization, sometimes there's pay, so that's always the extra incentive. Wish I could do more, so whenever I get a chance, I'm in it to work on my craft! Pictured below is me, Freedom & Crystal - ah good times - ha!

 Management meetings are essential to your step forward, always make an effort to get to them and discuss whatever is on your mind. Have a monologue prepared, you never know what they may want to see. Have a list on what you'd like to discuss pertaining your career, remember, they're the ones pitching and submitting you...they've got to believe in you and that it is all worth it! Also, I always roll with my lines for auditions, that way I keep them close in case I have a few minutes to run them at any point and time...except at lights...don't do them at lights...super annoying when you make everyone behind you miss the lights because you're rehearsing in the car...so just don't!

In my car with the goodies - always try to have some sort of goodies for the peeps that work for you, it doesn't have to be anything ginormous, just something from the heart to say thanks!

 My meeting with my manager (Marla at AFTM) was a surprise because I met a new face to the team and had to perform a monologue which I pulled from the ones I wrote (in my back pocket) and knew would be different/shocking! <3 it!

That night, had to hit Zumba class to feel good for the next day's audition (gotta keep up my healthy body) and after, I learned this about my body...

The night before my auditions and my favoritest mask in the world, when the pimples hit!

Morning quick start so I must eat...perfect on the go is the smoothie, it's your best friend in rush times.

Ready to go, 2 auditions to do and of course one is for casual commercial print AT&T and the other is a sexy, married lady that hits on other ladies...worlds apart so the car is full of stuff...don't forget anything!

Remember that auditions are fun, not competition. If you feel a friend is right for it, let 'em know because if it's for you, it's yours period! Sharing is caring ya'll and you never know, you may help a friend book a gig - KARMA points!!! Got my friend in on my audition and guess what????

She ended up chatting to the receptionist at the first audition and since she was running 2 of them, she allowed us to crash the other one. SCORE with a 2 for 1, thanks Colleen! Then, when we went to use the bathroom at CAZT before my last audition and mind you, it's not in that building, it was a pit stop, my gal started chatting it up because she saw a room full of people that resembled us and got us some cold reading sides for a web series...that girl! So instead of 2 auditions, it's now 4 and I'm riding high with my friend!

These are the days we as artists live for and when you go out of your way to help someone, usually that's returned and even if it doesn't work out this way, at least you have someone to pass the time with! So go share and GET IT DONE!!!